


Design Teams

by Eustacia Vye (eustaciavye)



Series: Infinity War Fix It [12]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 21:54:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14724264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eustaciavye/pseuds/Eustacia%20Vye
Summary: Tony brings Bruce back into the science fold.





	Design Teams

Tony found Bruce in the outer edges of the kingdom, where the energy dome had been. He was tending to a small farm, determinedly running after goats that seemed hellbent on running in the opposite direction from him. He was in some kind of loose white top and wide legged pants that went out of style years ago, but apparently was comfortable enough to run around in. Tony leaned against the split rail fence around the goats and watched until Bruce noticed him out of the corner of his eye. That made him stumble, and he fell face first onto the ground. A few of the goats wandered in close and headbutted him, then wandered off. The one he had been chasing bleated, and kept to the other side of the pen.

"I don't think they like you."

Bruce pushed himself up to a seated position and sighed. "Yeah, I don't think they like me, either."

"What are you doing way the hell out here? I would've thought you'd be in the palace working with the rest of us on all the tech."

"I know gamma radiation. I know particle physics. What the hell can I do with _that,_ when it's clear that I'm out of my depth working with all of you guys?" he said in agitation, making a sweeping gesture toward the palace. "I can't help you. Not in any way."

"Oh. You mean the Hulk punking out and you needing to use my Hulkbuster armor."

"Which got smashed up. Thanks for reminding me about how useless I am."

Tony rolled his eyes. "You do realize that I had FRIDAY send that to you? That you would have a suit in case you were ever in trouble and weren't angry enough to turn into your rage monster self?"

Bruce gave him a pinched look. "The Hulk _refused_ to come out."

"So he didn't want to play with the scary monsters from outer space. I get it," Tony replied diffidently, shrugging. He clambered up on the fence a bit, leaning on his crossed arms over the top rail. "So?"

"So?!" Bruce cried, getting to his feet. "How am I supposed to be able to help? The big guy won't come out, so he can't fight with you guys. I was _useless_ in the armor-"

"FRIDAY was helping you out, just without audio assist."

Bruce threw his hands up. "Great. Just great. So I was even more useless than I thought. Thanks, Tony."

Tony sighed and resisted the urge to facepalm. "Look, Bruce. You don't have to hide out here tending goats or whatever kind of masochistic punishment this is."

"I have seven Ph.D.'s. _Seven._ And not one of them is for alien tech!"

He rolled his eyes. "Do you think my degree from MIT is? Come on, Dr. Banner. You wasted all that time in school getting all those different degrees, when you know that most of us learn by experience. So get some experience here with me! C'mon, we're four nerds in a lab, we could use a fifth."

"Fifth wheel, you mean?"

"You're determined to beat yourself up over this, aren't you?" Tony asked shrewdly.

"I couldn't help when Thanos got to the ship with Asgardians," Bruce said, voice breaking. "Then I'm thrown to Earth and I see you guys again, and I'm useless. _Useless._ You guys are better off without me."

"No. We. Are. Not!" Tony ground out. "We need all of us together. I can't believe I'm quoting Cap on this, but we need to work together. We need to do this as a team."

"I couldn't even put Vision together right!"

"He was working just fine!" Tony spat. "He was _alive,_ Bruce! He evolved from JARVIS and Ultron and the Mind Stone," he said, voice wavering on JARVIS' name, "and he was his own person. He loved and was in love and was loved. And I for one don't plan on standing aside and letting go of his memory and wallowing in self pity. I tried that. I tried drinking it all away, and you know what I got for it?"

"What?" Bruce asked warily, shoulders slumped and nearly flinching.

"A hangover from hell because I stopped drinking that hard after getting Pepper back in my life. It's not going to do anything but kill me faster and then there won't be _anyone_ left that remembers them. We're it, Bruce. We remember how he was, and we're the ones that'll have to tell Shuri if she preserved his neural net right or not."

He straightened and gaped at Tony. "What?"

"Clean yourself up and get out of the goat pen, Banner. We have a friend to resurrect."

***

Shuri smiled sweetly at Bruce as she went through her own holographic computer. "Hello, Dr. Banner. I trust that Bucky's farm was a pleasant reprieve for you?"

"Uh, not really?" Bruce said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I think the goats hate me." At her raised eyebrow, he sighed. "They kept running and wouldn't let me feed them."

"Oh. That was Steve."

Tony snorted and nearly choked on his drink. "Wait. You're telling me that the most stubborn goat of them all was named _Steve?"_

"Of course." Her smile turned brittle. "We talked a lot about his herd. I named the silly one after my brother."

"Is that the neural net?" Bruce asked, pointing to the blue 3D representation hovering above Shuri's projection board. "Vision's, I mean?"

"Yes. I have FRIDAY as well, if she doesn't mind my showing you."

"Of course not, Shuri," came FRIDAY's voice overhead, startling Bruce. "I would be most curious to see what I look like in that representation. Boss doesn't do that at the Avengers complex."

"Didn't want to lose you, too," Tony said, strain in his expression and a tightness in his voice that betrayed the grief he'd never shown anyone about the loss of JARVIS.

No one spoke as Shuri reconfigured her projection board so that there could be two mind maps present. Vision remained blue, and FRIDAY's was violet with white sparks. "Oooh. I do look rather stylish," FRIDAY crooned in pleasure as the representation finished its render.

Tony couldn't help but grin at that. "Oh yeah, you definitely took on some of my traits."

"Of course, Boss," FRIDAY chirped.

Bruce looked baffled. "You're going to make Vision again? And FRIDAY?" There was mounting horror in his tone. "Tony, you know what happened the last time!"

"If I may, Dr. Banner," FRIDAY interrupted primly. "Ultron was created from the Mind Stone, and it had been in the presence of Baron Von Strucker and Loki for quite some time. We don't know who its exposures were prior to Loki arriving with it on Earth. I am of the impression that there will be no extraneous interference in the consciousness transfer."

"Absolutely not, and it would entirely be voluntary."

The white sparks had flickered as FRIDAY spoke, and Tony reached out toward the projection in fascination. "Wow. This is great, Shuri. So glad I took a break from robot design."

"You're _what_ now?" Bruce cried.

Shuri shot him an irritated look. "Didn't Mr. Stark tell you the different projects we have going?"

Chagrined, Tony shook his head. "Uh. Never got around to it."

"Not everything should be delegated," she chided, shaking her head at him. Tony had the distinct impression that she was acting like Queen Ramonda in that moment.

"So wait... I wasn't asked here to build another Vision?" Bruce asked, peering at them. "Or robots?"

"Oh, no!" Shuri said, shaking her head. "I thought you and Thor would like to work on spaceship design."

Bruce blinked. "I don't know anything about spaceship design."

"Thor and Rocket took care of outfitting our gliders and ships with relevant engine design. But you can work on the energy conversion and fuel efficiencies."

The anxiety visibly bled from his expression. "Oh. Oh, okay, I think I can do that."

"But hey, the frustration of cracking that nut might make Big Green come out to say hello," Tony said, finishing the last of his coffee.

Bruce shot him an irritated glance. "That's not funny, Tony."

Shuri looked at Bruce in concern. "This is the Hulk we're talking about?"

"Right. He wouldn't come out to help in New York or in the battlefield."

She frowned at him. "Did you ask him nicely?" At his incredulous expression, she threw up her hands, scattering the projections in front of her. "I don't know how it works! You make it sound like he's a completely different person, and I know if my brother demanded that I do something I didn't want to do, I would refuse out of spite even if it was something I could do!"

"He's just... There. Constantly. And two years of my life disappeared while he was on some kind of an alien planet playing Gladiator," Bruce huffed. "So no, I didn't ask him nicely to beat up on aliens. He came out when Hela and her goons were attacking the Asgardians, why wouldn't he do it again?"

Tony and Shuri stared at him. "Do you talk to him? Ever?" Shuri asked, frowning.

"There's no talking to him. He just smashes things."

Tony covered his face with his hand and breathed out a disappointed sigh. "Please tell me I don't sound this dense when I talk."

"Of course you do," Shuri told him.

"I am _so_ sorry," he told her. He turned to Bruce. "Look. You like Pepper, right? She's on her way here. Let her talk some sense into you, _please,_ because I obviously have no proper sense of self preservation, but I think I'm starting to get it." He sucked in a pained breath. "I think watching over Peter made me see it. You said the Hulk was in charge for the two years you were gone, right?"

"Yeah. So?"

"He'd never really been out and in charge for very long before that," Tony began.

"He destroyed Harlem! He wrecked villages and people died! Of course I'm going to try to suppress him!"

"So he never got a chance to grow up!" Tony said. "He's an emotionally constipated toddler and all he's got is you, and you repress anger like a champ so all he's got to express is that."

"We have wonderful therapists in the city," Shuri piped up. Bruce shot her a dark look, and she raised her hands in a placating manner. "Just in case."

"While you were playing Gladiator," Tony said carefully, coming closer to put a hand on his shoulder in support. "I'm guessing that he didn't go on any rampages."

"Well, no. The guy had an enormous suite and all the food and drink he wanted. Valkyrie was his best friend."

"Valkyrie. Fighter?" Tony guessed. At Bruce's nod, he nodded as well. "Did she die in the Thanos thing?"

"No. Well, I don't think so? She got Asgardians away from Thanos and the Black Order," Bruce said.

"Does the Hulk know that?" Shuri asked quietly. "If you were unaware of what he did for two years, then he's unaware of what you do."

"You think he's grieving?"

Tony and Shuri both nodded. "We're all grieving, Bruce. We all got hit. We _all_ suffered. All of us." He swallowed with difficulty as Shuri moved to reactivate her panel. "And you know, we're just dealing with it by building things. Rocket plans to blow stuff up. We do what we do best, you know? But the Hulk doesn't know what to do with that, does he? He knows enough not to smash things here. Maybe for a while we babied him too much, didn't really give him the credit we should've." He pulled Bruce in for a hug, startling him. "And if you can hear me, Big Guy, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't try to get to know you, I'm sorry I punched you in the face when the freaky mind thing was happening to us, I'm sorry I left you alone with the Ultron thing. I'm just sorry."

Bruce gently disengaged from Tony. "You've been doing the therapy thing, huh?"

"It did Pepper wonders. She thought it could help me out. Especially given that our little boy band broke up and I had a big empty complex and not enough people to live in it."

Sighing, Bruce turned away and saw Shuri studiously pretending not to listen. He pulled a face at Tony. "I'm sorry we left. Even if it was his decision."

"I'm sure you weren't exactly itching to stay. We both know he protects you from the world." Tony spoke without rancor as he shrugged. "It is what it is. Can't change the past."

Letting out a breath, Bruce sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "We'll see what happens, I guess. I guess I can work on the energy problem. That's more my wheelhouse."

"Thor will be glad to see you."

"Yeah. I'm glad he's doing okay. It was rough, watching Asgard burn." Bruce's lips twitched and his gaze slid away from Tony. "This is a lot to take in, you know."

"Don't run, Dr. Banner," Shuri murmured. "We're better dealing with it all together than alone. It's when you're alone that things seem impossible."

"I'll keep it in mind," he said, looking over the hovering projections of Vision and FRIDAY. "Just... Be careful with those, okay? Things are pretty bad as it is, and I'd hate to see it get worse."

Tony shot him a sad smile. "I'm a kinder, gentler, less impulsive version of myself. Promise." At Bruce's skeptical expression, he shrugged. "A lot's happened while you were away."

"Seems like it. So... I'll get to work. That usually calms me down."

"We could use a little angry, too," Tony pointed out. "Make sure you build something with him in mind. That way, he feels welcome."

"This doesn't much feel like a place he'd feel welcome."

"We're working to get to Thanos to try to undo this mess he created," Shuri said, only the slightest of warbles in her voice. "Our planet is starting to actually band together instead of saying so while looking after their own interests. So I have to believe that T'Challa made the right decision in bringing Wakanda to international notice. We're going to act as one tribe, one nation. And we will show Thanos that his misguided ideas are unwelcome and unnecessary. _We_ will build a better future than he could ever dream of, and those colonizer ways will die."

It was a beautiful sentiment. Hopefully they could make it a reality.


End file.
